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Senegal’s hungry say they need help now

Date Published:

05/15/2012

Summary:

About 810,000 people in the country (Senegal) are facing hunger, and the national cereal production is down by 36 percent compared to 2010, according to a study by the Senegalese government and the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP). The situation is part of the wider crisis in the Sahel region - a semi-arid belt of land south of the Sahara desert - where the United Nations estimates that more than 15 million people are facing food insecurity because of a combination of drought, failed crops, insect infestations, high food prices and conflict. (..) Senegal, when compared to other governments in the Sahel region, was late to declare it was facing a food crisis.